Here at Ekhaya Bush Villa we love sharing the culture and traditions of our local people with our guests and recommend that they take the time during their stay to have some wonderful, authentic African experiences, which we are happy to arrange for them.

A morning spent at Nourish Eco Village a short drive from Hoedspruit is one of the ways to do this. Founded nine years ago, this non-profit organisation is based in the village of Sigagule where it works to re-connect local residents to their natural heritage and help them derive benefit from tourism through a range of activities both on this working farm and in the village itself.

You can take a tour of Sigagule with a local guide and meet the people who are helping to fight poaching through fighting poverty thanks to grass-roots village tourism. The walking tour gives you the opportunity to visit a local creche, sample some traditional food and even have your future read by a local sangoma (traditional healer!).

Or extend your walking tour with a traditional meal at Nourish – trying out pap, chicken, chakalaka and home-picked spinach! You can also spend a morning at Nourish helping and interacting with the children at the Nourish creche, singing songs, playing games and doing crafts, followed by a short tour of the project facilities and a traditional lunch.

We also recommend a visit to Nyani Cultural Village just outside Hoedspruit where you can take a real cultural journey through the costumes, songs and dances of the San, Shona, Venda, Tsonga, Balobedu, Pedi and Bahananawa people, as well as dances from the Swati and Zulu tribes.

This exciting experience is designed to entertain and educate and is followed by a tour of Nyani’s lovely Shangaan village where you get to interact with tribal ambassadors and find out how huts are built, how maize is ground and all of the aspects of these colourful and vibrant tribal cultures.

You can follow this up with a delicious traditional lunch. All of Nyani’s team members are local residents from the rural areas in and around nearby Acornhoek who have been trained in singing, dancing, drumming and dramatic performance.

So ask us about both Nourish and Nyani, and let us arrange one of their exciting activities for you during your stay so that you leave us having truly understood what it is to be African!

Originally Posted : Feb 24, 2020